View full sizeRoss William Hamilton/The OregonianRoses are late this year, leaving the city's signature parks like Peninsula Park Rose Garden looking more like March than nearly June.

"A rose! Ah, ha, ha!" whooped Hillary Joseph, bending over to inspect a
button of orange, the only color bobbing in an aggressive sea of green
at the International Rose Test Garden at Washington Park, where the
great majority of approximately 8,500 roses are certain to be a no-show
for the Portland Rose Festival.

Thomas Wickboldt, Joseph's
friend from San Francisco, was good-natured about missing Portland's
iconic flower. "Since it's the City of Roses, it would be nice to see
the roses. But it's not that big of a deal."

The wishy-washy sun of spring has been unkind to the warm-blooded plants. A season of record rainfall and well-below average high temperatures make 2011 the latest-blooming rose season in memory. Only six days rose above 60 degrees; on average, there are 26.

"The weather is
crazy," says Gretchen Humphrey, drawing out the word like pulling a
piece of taffy. As chair of the Portland Rose Society Show, she's
holding out hope for a warm spell to get the pouting roses to cooperate.
But the forecast of continued cool and rainy days makes the chances of
that happening extremely unlikely.

View full sizeThomas Boyd/The Oregonian/2010Gretchen
Humphrey has won Queen of the Show three times for the Portland Rose
Festival. But her garden this year is a far cry from how it looked last
year about this time.

"If
we had decent weather of 70 to 80 for at least 10 days, we'd be in
great shape, says Harry Landers, curator of the International Rose Test
Garden, where the roses have not been this late since he started keeping
track 22 years ago.

Regular show competitors, such as John Sitton of Albany, are disappointed.

"I
don't remember a later growing season when it comes to roses. This is
the latest -- by far," says Sitton, who started his garden 28 years ago
and now has 300 roses. "I'm really worried about the Portland show. I
love to compete. My goal is to win the big queen award, but I don't
believe I will have anything to show."

At least, disease hasn't been an issue, he says, though black spot could be a problem once temperatures climb.

The
lack of roses won't affect the Grand Floral Parade floats, which are
pinned with blossoms from South America. Attendance is not likely to
suffer, either, according to Jenna Cerruti, a Rose Festival
spokesperson.

More worrisome is the 16-year-old Portland Best
Rose event to be held June 12 at the Washington Park test garden. About
100 judges will rank varieties in a blind contest to come up with the
city's finest flower. The day before, the public is invited to vote for
People's Choice.

"We'll go ahead with it whether there are roses
or not," says Dave Etchepare, manager of Dennis' 7 Dees and Rose
Festival board members. "We will judge foliage if we have to."

"It
will be a little odd to judge," says Louise Clements, a perennial
participant and owner of Heirloom Roses in St. Paul, who hasn't seen a
spring like this in the 30-some years since she and her late husband
John started the nursery. Of the 3,000 bushes in the display garden,
only 'Mary Queen of Scots' and climbing 'Gold Badge' are showing any
color.

The situation is just as dire at all three of Portland's
official rose gardens, where thousands and thousands of sun-starved
shrubs refuse to cooperate. Blog and Twitter chatter indicate the same
situation with home gardeners. A few lucky ones crowed about their
success, but even they admitted flowers came from just one or two
plants, and were few and far apart.

The question of when roses will finally appear for visitors to the International Rose Test Garden is unanswerable.

"Only
God knows," Landers says. "People want to get so specific; like June 2
at 5 p.m. I wish I had a good idea, but, as with all gardening, it's up
to the weather. All you can do is complain."

And wait.

Peak bloom in about a month

Roses
are taking their time this year, but should begin making an appearance
in the next few weeks, with peak bloom likely at the end of June.
Gardens to visit include:

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